Mill for polishing round bars.



PATENTED JAN. 24, 1905.

V. E. EDWARDS. MILL FOR POLISHING ROUND BARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8, 1902.

2 SHEETS-11331 1.

PATBNTED JAN. 24, 1905.

V. E. EDWARDS. MILL FOR POLISHING ROUND BARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

6' Ira 0222b K223112513 UNITED STATES Patented January 24, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

VICTOR E. EDWARDS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MORGANCONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHU- SETTS, A CORPORATION OFMASSACHUSETTS.

MILL FOR POLISHING ROUND BARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letterslatent No. 780,644, dated January24, 1905.

7 Application filed July 8, 1902. Serial No. 114,712.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, VICTOR E. EDWARDs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mills forPolishing Round Bars, of which the following is a specificationaccompanied by drawings forming a part of the same, in which Figure 1 isa plan view of the mill. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation. Fig. 3 is asectional view, portions being in elevation. Fig. 4 is a side view ofthe housing, showing two rollers in position therein; and Fig. 5 is anend view of the same.

Similar reference letters and figures refer to similar parts in thedifferent views.

The object of my invention is to provide a self-contained mill in whichthe successive passes are located in close proximity to each other,requiring no handling during their passage from one set of rolls to theother, and, further, to provide lateral support for the bar of metalbetween the two sets of rolls.

It is also the object to provide means for bringing the passes betweenthe contiguous pairs of rollers into exact alinement with each other andalso to apply constant and uniform speed to the several rollers and toconnect all parts of the machinery upon a single rigid frame, with meansfor adjusting the housings and likewise the pairs of rollers in eachhousing; and with these objects in view my present invention consists incertain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, whichwill be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 and 2 represent a pair of.frames cast substantially in duplicate and placed together and boltedto the bed 3 of the mill and bolted together at the center, as at 4 4,so that the two frames are perfectly rigid and as if made in a singlecasting. On the inner inclining bases of these frames tracks 5 5 areformed, these being provided with longitudinal T- shaped grooves 6 6.Housings consisting each ofa pair of uprights 7 7 and intermediate webs8 8 are bolted thereto, as at 9 9. These webs have feet 10 10, which aremounted upon the tracks 5 5, upon which the housings are adapted to beadjusted, they being clamped in position by the bolts'll 11, the headsof which are located in the undercut of the T- shaped grooves 6 6, nuts12 12 being screwed on their upper ends to hold them in place.

Between the ends 7 7 of each housing an outwardly extending lug 13 iscast, and through its center a screw-threaded hole 14 is bored. Thescrew 15, swiveled in a hole in one of the 'end housings '7 betweencollars 16 16, is screw threaded, and the threads are adapted to turn inthe threads of hole 14: in the lug 13, so that the entire housingcomprising the ends and connecting-web is capable of being adjustedbodily up or down on the tracks 5 5 by applying a wrench to the head 17of the screw and turning it in the direction desired. The ends of thehousing have openings 18 18 therein, and the trunnions 19 19 of therollers 20 20 extend therethrough, they being supported to turn insuitable journals which are adjustable with respect to the housings, andfor this purpose the upper and lower surfaces of the upper and lowerjournal-boxes are provided with inclined outer surfaces 21, as shown inFig. 5, and movable blocks 22 22, with oppositely-inclined innersurfaces adapted to engage the inclined surfaces 21 21 of the bearings,are interposed between said inclining surfaces 21 21 and the extremeends of the opening 18 in the ends 7 7, their function being to act aswedges between said surfaces to force the journal-boxes toward eachother or to permit them to be separated, this movement of the blocks 2222 being conveniently effected by means of the screws 23 23, which areswiveled in the ends 7 7 of the housings and screw-threaded into theblocks, so that when a wrench is applied to their outer ends and theyare turned the blocks'are moved in or out, asthe case may be.

pair of adjustable bearing-plates 25 25, and between them a wedge-shapedblock 26 is adapted to be moved in or out by the screw 27 in aInterposed between the trunnions are a similar manner, so that insteadof merely providing means for taking up the wear in the journals asheretofore it is the purpose of my invention to provide means ofadjusting the rolls in pairs bodily, so that the whole pass is movablebodily to bring it into exact alinement with the guide through which thebar travels to and from the passes. This would be impossible if thebearing between the trunnions were stationary, although means wereprovided at the upper and lower ends of the housing for taking up wearin the journals. This would be equally impossible if the outer bearingswere stationary and the journals between the rolls only were adjustable;but by making the entire set adjustable and independent of any anchorageupon the housings the passes are movable bodily by shifting two rollerswhich form them in unison to effect an alinement with the guide withabsolute accuracy. The end thrust of the rolls is upon bars 28 28, andthese are held in position by bolts 29 29 in the elongated slots 30 30,extending transversely of the end-thrust plates. So to adjust the rollsendwise these bolts are turned, and thereby the grooves of the two rollsare made to exactly coincide and insure the proper contour in the rodbeing polished. These thrust-bars 28 28 likewise sustain the endpressure, which, of course, is only slight, maintaining the accuratealinement of the two grooves of a pass.

The guides may be designated as entrance and delivery guides and aredenoted by the numerals 31 and 32, respectively, and they are rigidlysecured in place in the notches 33 33 on the upper edges of webs 8 8 bythe clamp-bars 34 34:, which are held in place by bolts and nuts 35 35,the heads of which bolts are movable in the T-shaped slots 36 36. Thesenotches are in exact alinement with the passes and in that way serve asgages to insure the proper adjustment of the guides relative to thepasses. Each roll has one or more passes, although only'one is used at atime, the others being in reserve, so the usefulness of a mill iscorrespondingly lengthened before it is necessary to repair or remillthe grooves. The entrance and delivery guides are in alinement onopposite sides of each set of rolls, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3 ofthe drawings, and it is a desideratum that the guides leading to andfrom one set of rolls should be in absolute alinement with the workingpass of the next pair of rolls, and that is why the rolls are bodilyadjustable in pairs within the housings and to acquire the requisitetransverse or lateral adjustment, and the housings themselves areadjustable bodily to shift the rolls endwise to bring the passes of twopairs of rolls, with their attached guides, into absolute and accuratealinement. Of course it is understood that when a new pass is to be usedthe guides must be reset in another one of the notches 33 33; but, asexplained, these notches are gaged to exact alinement with theirrespective passes, and if not the rollers are adjusted to bring theminto proper alinement, as previously explained. In like manner thehousings may be shifted on the tracks 5 5, so as to raise or lower themto the precise position required. Power is applied to each rollindependently by any kind of motor desired, and preferably each roll isdriven independently by an electric motor M, and these areconstant-speed motors, so that all four rolls are driven at a uniformspeed, their armaturcs being connected to the adjacent end of the rollby any style of coupling-sleeve 38 38.

In a mill for polishing round bars it is a desideratum that noreduction, or as little as possible, should take place in the bar frompass to pass. At the same time sufficient pressure is necessary to causethe progressive movement of the bar through the passes and guides. Inorder to reduce this pressure to a minimum and yet make it adequate, itwould be recognized at once that a possibility might arise of one set ofrolls at some time exerting a greater feeding action than the other set,and if this should happen to be in the rear set of rolls it would tendto impart a greater speed at that point, and the result would be thehuekling and the bending of the bar between the rolls. This tendency isresisted by the use of the guides, which afiord lateral support for thebar during its transit all the way from one pass to another, so that anypossibility to deviate from a straightforward course is positivelyprecluded, even though there should for any cause be a variation in thespeed of the 'two sets of rollers.

I am aware that it is old to pass a bar of steel between two contiguouspairs of rollers having their axes placed at an angle to each other;but, so far as I am aware, the passes have been reducing passes and ofdifferent diameters, whereas my invention contemplates a difference inthis respect, as the passes which I wish are duplicate passes and asnearly alike as possible.

I am also aware that it is old to locate the two sets of rollers withtheir axes parallel, so that the intervening space affords ample roomfor an operator to twist the bar by hand preparatory to its entrance tothe second set of rollers; but that is not the idea of my invention.

My invention resides in placing the two sets of rollers contiguous toeach other and with their axes at an angle instead of parallel, so thatno twisting of the bar is necessary to insure the proper position of themajor and minor axes of the bar; and it further resides in affordinglateral support for the bar throughout the entire passage from one setof rolls to the next.

I am likewise aware that it is not broadly new to adjust the bearings ofthe rollers independently. I do not, therefore, claim that as my 1(invention; but, so far as I am aware, it is new {to adjust the rollersbodily in pairs, so that l the pass which is'formed by grooves partly ineach roll of a pair is adjustable bodily to insure its exact alinementwith the pass of the next. pair of rolls; but

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a mill for polishing round bars, the combination of the triangularframes 1 and 2 placed in reverse position to each other and unitedtogether at their bases with the inclined faces of said frames providedwith tracks 5, 5, roll housings adjustably mounted on said tracks, apair of rolls journaled in each of said housings, motors mounted on saidframes with their axes in alinement with the axes of the lower rolls ineach pair of rolls, motors mounted upon said frames with their axes inalinement with the axes of the upper rolls in each 2 pair of rolls, andcouplings connecting said motors with their respective rolls inalinement therewith.

2. In a mill for polishing round bars, the combination with a bed, of apair of duplicate triangular frames attached to said bed with theirinclined sides in reverse position, rollhousings attached to theinclined sides of said frames, a pair of rolls journaled in each of saidhousings, and a pair of motors attached to each of said frames andindependently coupled to each roll in the pairs of rolls.

Dated this 1st day of July, 1902.

VICTOR E. EDWARDS.

